The effects of metacognitive reading strategy instruction on reading comprehension strategy awareness and motivation in second language learning

The main objective of the study was to examine the effect of Metacognitive reading strategy instruction on reading comprehension, Metacognitive reading Strategy awareness, and reading motivation to read in Amharic as a second language for students in Arba Minch Secondary School, Gamo Zone, and South Ethiopia. To achieve this objective, the study was conducted following a Solomon three-group design based on a quasi-experimental approach. The design was implemented with one experimental group and two control groups, with two groups receiving a pre- and post-test, and one group receiving only a post-test. Thus, one experimental group and one control group (control group one) received Metacognitive reading strategies instruction, and control group one received conventional reading instruction for 15 sessions over 15 weeks. The participants of the study were selected from nine ninth-grade classrooms in Arbaminch Secondary and Preparatory School in Gamo Zone, South Ethiopia Region, in 2011 through a convenience sampling method, namely 31 students in the intervention group, 32 in the control group one, and 32 students in control group two. From the intervention and control group one, participants received pre- and post-tests, and from control group two, participants received post-tests only. Data were collected through tests and questionnaires on reading comprehension, metacognitive reading strategy, and reading motivation. The data were analyzed using mean scores, chi-square test, one-way ANOVA, and one-way ANCOVA. The findings of the study showed that the experimental group, who learned to read with metacognitive reading strategy, showed significant improvements in their reading comprehension scores, metacognitive awareness, and motivation to read, instated to the control group, who received conventional reading instruction. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that learning to read with a metacognitive reading strategy improves students’ reading comprehension scores, metacognitive awareness, and motivation to read.